A hive colony has 10-80,000 bees: 1 queen and approx:100 workers to 1 drone. Drone numbers depend on the time of year.
At 6-16 days old, queens mate mid-air with up to 50 drones from different hives (for genetic diversity) over several flights.
Queens lay about 2,000 eggs a day and live 2-5 years. The queen honey bee determines the sex of her offspring. Unfertilised=male. Fertilised=female.
At 12-20 days, 8 abdominal glands secrete wax flakes for making cells. Honey bees chew it into shape for hexagonal honeycomb cells.
A worker honey bee can fly 6 miles from the hive at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour visiting 50-100 flowers a trip and up to 50,000 a day!
Nectar is stored in a honey sac at the top of the stomach with a shut off valve so contents don't mix. So it's not bee spew but it is Regurg!
Edible honey found in 3,000yr old tomb! Preserved by honey's hydrogen peroxide, acidity, and low water levels (most bacteria can't survive in this).
Queen, worker, drone, brood communicate with pheremones (a chemical scent). 15 glands secrete messages: clean, build, forage, attack...
The honey bee has three simple eyes top centre of it's head called ocelli and two large compound eyes on the sides. Watch the video and bee amazzzed!
Bees see movement 1/300 sec = 6 x faster than us. Where we see a blur, bees see individual flowers! You could say it's a bit like they see in slow motion.
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